Monthly Archives: December 2010

At number 1 on my countdown of the ridiculous things people probably believe about Islam is that Islam is stuck in the dark ages.

There are really three big negative stereotypes about Islam — that it hates women, that it’s violent and that it hates any kind of scientific progress.

I’ve covered the first two already, but how can you argue against the third?

Their governments are based on ancient religious texts!

And what diseases has Iran cured?

Historically, Islam has a immense track record.

Science and math as we know it wouldn’t even exist without Islam.

The Islamic Golden Age caused a revolution in virtually every field of human thought, during which Al-Khwarizmi invented Algebra from the Arabic al-ğabr (in Arabic script ‘الجبر’) (“completion”) — and advanced everything from geography and exploration to the arts, architecture, philosophy, urban development, medicine and health.

The Muslims actually came pretty close to sharing all this brilliance with the truly ass-backward kingdoms of Christian Europe, who were still burning their “scientists” alive for heresy against the church.

In fact, the case has been made that if the caliphates succeeded in conquering all of Europe an Italian Renaissance would have been unnecessary and one that was only possible by the discoveries made by the Muslim empire and it’s scholars.

So a lot of people have reached the conclusion that the religion spread like holy wildfire for one reason: the sword.

The next logical leap from this viewpoint is that as a people, Muslims must be violent and barbaric conquerors. Even before 9/11, you saw this portrayal in popular culture all the time:

But actually…

The Prophet Muhammad (Peace Be Upon Him) laid out some pretty progressive rules of warfare, and medieval Muslims out-niced the Christians in battle by a landslide. Especially since Muhammad (PBUH) personally issued “a distinct code of conduct among Islamic warriors” that included:

* No killing of women, children or innocents — these might include hermits, monks or other religious leaders who were deemed non-combatants;
* No wanton killing of livestock or other animals;
* No burning or destruction of trees and orchards; and
* No destruction of wells.

In short, Muhammad (PBUH) wanted his armies to fight like hippies….during the freaking Dark Ages with dignity that had never been seen on the battlefield….and they did.

The biggest territorial gains were made after Muhammad’s (PBUH) death.

I’m counting down the top myths people have about Islam & Muslims. At #3 on my countdown is the myth that all Muslims are Arabs.

Do you remember that crazy lady with the Einstein hair who asked John McCain if Barack Obama was an Arab?

No?

Well, let me refresh your memory:

We’re willing to bet there’s more than a 20 percent chance this woman meant to say “Muslim” but accidentally said “Arab” because same thing, right?

And even if you’re not in the tea party camp, where you’re convinced “Arab” and “Muslim” are interchangeable, you’ve probably operated under a similar assumption: that non-Jewish Middle Eastern people are Muslim and that most Muslims live in the Middle East.

For comparison, about 22 percent of the global Christian population is African, yet when somebody says “Christian,” you don’t immediately picture a man from Africa. Equating “Muslim” with “Arab” makes just as much sense.

While we in the West have been conditioned to associate Islam with the Middle East, a whopping 61.9 percent of all Muslims — AKA the supermajority — don’t live in the Middle East at all; most Muslims live in the Asia-Pacific region. Indonesia alone is home to more than 200 million Muslims, and the Indian subcontinent has roughly a half-billion Muslims.

Benjamin Rush, who was so Christian he wanted a Bible in every school, but he also said that he would rather see the opinions of Confucius or Mohammad “inculcated upon our youth” than see them grow deprived “of a system of religious principles.”

Benjamin Franklin once declared: “Even if the Mufti of Constantinople were to send a missionary to preach Mohammedanism to us, he would find a pulpit at his service.”

“The government of the United States of America is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian Religion, as it has in itself no character of enmity against the laws, religion or tranquility of Mussulmen [Muslims].”

Next time you hear racist views of american commentators, you’d be best served remembering some of these facts.

I’m counting down the top myths people have about Islam & Muslims. At #5 on my countdown is the myth that if you’re a Muslim woman, you have to wear the veil, niqab or burqa.

For millions of people in the West, when you say “Islam,” the first mental image that pops into mind is this:

A woman covered head to toe in a burqa.

The truth is, if you could suddenly gather all of the Muslim women on the planet into one giant room and had to pass a football to someone wearing a burqa, it’d be next to impossible to complete that pass.

After all, we all know that Islam hates women — the fact that Saudi Arabia is the only country in the world that actually prohibits women from driving, or that only predominantly Muslim countries still use death by stoning as a punishment for adultery, proves it, right?

But actually…

Thinking that all Muslim women have to dress like this…

…is like thinking that all white anglo saxon christian women have to dress like this:

Yes, there are Middle Eastern countries where the veils are required by law (namely Iran and Saudi Arabia) and combined those countries have less than 5 percent of the world’s Muslims. There are actually more Muslim countries that outright ban the wearing of the veils than there are that require them.

I never thought about Santa Claus having so much in common with Osama Bin Laden. After all, there was news of the FBI trained Christmas tree bomber. But it only took me a few minutes to come up with a list of things those two figures have in common.

So in the Spirit of Christmas and increased terrorist activities, I present this list of commonalities.

1. They both appeal to the young ones and promise to reward them with things if they cooperate, or punish them if they do not.

2. The both appear at a special time of the year and make their presence known.

3. Some people go to great lengths to take their pictures.

4. Some people debate their existence.

5. The scope of their work and its effectiveness is debated.

6. Some people take them to be religious figures.

7. They both indulge in guilty pleasures: cookies for Santa and Whitney Houston for Osama.

8. They are both operate in the dark when you are asleep.

9. They live faraway in a place we never even knew existed.

10. They both star in publications, including movies, music posters, and books.

11. They have a loyal army of workers who are as committed and dedicated as they are, blindly supported and rarely questioned.

12. Both tracked by NORAD.

13. Some countries ban their image.

14. They both sport beards.

15. They both ship packages.

16. They both have blacklists.

17. Both figures are used by superior powers to achieve a higher agenda.

18. They both wear head gear.

19. Both are associated with flying objects and flying into buildings.

20. Controversial endorsement, some think neither should appear on merchandise.

21. They both have established global franchises and both outsource.

22. They both have mysterious sources of funding and operation. No one ever audits their books.

"Truth stands out clear from Error: whoever rejects evil & believes in Allah has grasped the most trustworthy hand-hold that never breaks. And Allah hears & knows all things."
(The Qur'an, Al-Baqara, 2: 256)

“Political authority & religion are kin brothers, neither would stand but by its companion; because religion is the foundation of political power & its pillar, & political power is the guardian of religion; political power is not established with a foundation & religion cannot be implemented without authority.”
- Shaykh Muhammad al-Yaqoubi

"War is not merely a political act, but also a political instrument, a continuation of political relations, a carrying out of the same by other means" - Clausewitz

"O mankind! We created you from a single (pair) of a male and a female, and made you into nations and tribes that ye may know each other (not that ye may despise each other). Verily the most honoured of you in the sight of Allah is (he who is) the most righteous of you. And Allah has full knowledge and is well acquainted (with all things)."
(The Qur'an, Al Hujurat, 49: 13)